Applicants for residential permits in Honolulu will be required to use an AI tool to double-check their work starting in September.
The Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) for the City and County of Honolulu has been using an AI software called CivCheck since 2025.
It’s part of an overhaul of a decades-old system that has been blamed for long wait times and a permitting backlog.
The DPP was given an award from the Center for Public Sector AI for its use of the new technology — and early data is showing that the implementation of CivCheck is cutting decision times in half for applicants.
Dawn Takeuchi Apuna is director of the DPP. She spoke with HPR to give an overview of the new system and to discuss Honolulu’s permitting overhaul.
“It's like TurboTax for preparing your building permit plans,” Apuna said, explaining how the new AI software functions.
“And that's what we really like about it. You're not just throwing something into a black box and hoping it it does it for you. It guides you through the process.”
She told HPR that the AI tool has been effective and is streamlining the permit approval process.
“We want to make it predictable, have it within a certain amount of time, and that way, these very complicated projects can make sure everything is in line and things get built — and quickly,” she said.
Residential permit applicants will be required to use CivCheck beginning September 1st. More information about the AI tool can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on August 4, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
